After reading Nick’s excellent thread on T-30/38 ammo pouches I thought I’d post this on these interesting ammo pouches. These are often, erroneously, called "Navy" ammo pouches but original photos show them being used by the Army as well. They seem to appear around the adoption of the Type 99 rifle and until recently, Showa 14 (1939) was the earliest date I’d recorded on these. Recently, however, I picked up one that is dated Showa 13. These pouches appear to be a simpler method of producing a front ammo pouch without that center divider panel. Note the photo of the interior to see how they did that. On the earliest pouches dated Showa 13 and 14 every panel, including the lid was made of two layers of leather sewn together so there is a smooth surface inside and out. Later ones did away with the two layer lid but retained the two layer body panels. The main variants on these is in the finials. Early examples have brass finials, then nickel plated steel was used, followed by green and then black painted steel. One of my examples even has wood finials but, unfortunately, it is not dated. My black finial examples appears to be Showa 19 dated which is unusual for a leather pouch. Additionally, on that pouch the back panel is made of pig skin, inside and out. Here are some photos. The drawing of it is from my original T-99 rifle manual which shows this pouch among others for use with the T-99 rifle

Click to enlarge the picture